Staff Hardware Systems Engineer

Gather AI • Pittsburgh, PA

6d • Onsite

About The Position

Gather AI is hiring a Staff Hardware Systems Engineer to own requirements, integration, and verification and validation (V&V) for warehouse robotics hardware, including autonomous inventory drones, forklift-mounted vision systems, and supporting charging and battery systems. The engineer will ensure products are built from testable requirements, technologies are evaluated and de-risked, hardware integrates cleanly with firmware, software, and autonomy, and releases are supported by objective evidence suitable for real warehouse environments.

This is a hands-on individual-contributor role on a small, senior hardware team in Pittsburgh. The engineer will establish the requirements and V&V framework and carry out the work, including scouting and testing technologies, writing requirements, building test rigs, running tests, and analyzing data.

The role is based on-site in Pittsburgh 4–5 days a week and involves about 10% travel to test labs, the contract manufacturer, and customer warehouses.

Requirements

• Have owned requirements through V&V for an electromechanical product taken from concept to production, including decomposing product requirements to subsystem level with traceability.
• Have written and executed V&V plans with objective, measurable acceptance criteria.
• Have integrated hardware with firmware and software in a robotic, embedded, autonomous, or complex electromechanical system, including bring-up and root-causing interface failures.
• Use statistics for engineering decisions, including design of experiments, data analysis, and statistically based sampling plans such as confidence/reliability or AQL.
• Build and execute tests, including test methods, rigs, fixtures, and data acquisition, and conduct measurement system analysis such as Gauge R&R.
• Have a BS in an engineering field and 10+ years of relevant experience, or an MS and 8+ years of relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

• Environmental and compliance qualification experience with external labs, including shock and vibration, thermal cycling and condensation, IP ingress, and EMC/FCC.
• Experience with vision and power technologies, including camera characterization and illumination, lithium batteries and charging systems, and technology trade studies.
• Regulated product development experience in medical, aerospace, or automotive, with the judgment to scale that rigor to a startup.
• Experience with drones/UAVs, material handling equipment, or robotics.

Responsibilities

• Own the requirements and V&V framework for hardware products, from system requirements through subsystem, technology-block, and interface requirements, with traceability to verification evidence.
• Scout, characterize, and compare candidate technologies, including cameras, illumination, propulsion, wireless charging, and batteries, and recommend technologies for future products.
• Own integration of electrical, firmware, software, and autonomy into hardware designs, including bring-up, integration testing, and root-cause analysis of interface failures.
• Write and execute V&V plans, including test methods, rigs, fixtures, instrumentation, statistically based sampling plans, and design of experiments; document conclusions and uncertainty.
• Own environmental and compliance testing, including shock and vibration, thermal and condensation, ingress, and EMC/FCC testing, working with external test labs.
• Own technical budgets for power, thermal, mass, and EMC/RF; lead system-level hazard analysis; and contribute to DFMEA.
• Deliver decision-ready evidence for design reviews, design freeze, and release, and assess the verification impact of engineering changes.
• Use field failures to improve requirements and tests, and shape production test strategy with the contract manufacturer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior